Identify a focused topic in Chinese history from 1368 to Present
Topics should be focused enough that you can select appropriate articles that have some overlapping material. Avoid topics such as “Chinese Religion” or “Confucianism” or the “Tang Dynasty.” These are too broad to assist in selecting related articles.
2. Select THREE (3) scholarly articles from scholarly journals.
• Scholarly journals are publications where scholars publish the results of their research. Such articles undergo “peer review” in which they are read and criticized by other scholars before they are published. It is a system that assures that articles published meet the minimum expectations in an academic field for high-quality research. Peer review is a way to encourage articles to meet basic standards; it does NOT guarantee that an article is “right.”
• Your selections must be substantial articles. Book reviews (which many journals publish) are NOT acceptable.
• At least one of the articles must be in English (although all three may be in English).
3. Write a SEVEN-PAGE (7) ESSAY (approximately 1700 words) that answers the following questions:
• What are the ARGUMENTS (theses) of each of the articles you have selected? How do they prove those arguments?
• How do the articles relate to each other?
Consider questions like: Do they address different aspects of a single problem? Do they agree or disagree with each other? Do they address different problems but use them to address each other?
• Taken together, what do they tell you about the topic you have chosen? Formatting
• Double-space using a normal-sized font (such as Times New Roman in 12 point) with 1-inch margins.
• Language: Standard Academic English. Pay attention to grammar and usage.
• Bibliography: Append a page (page 8) with a properly formatted bibliography of the articles using the
Chicago (Note-Bibliography) Style.
• Identify references to the texts of the articles using simplified parenthetical notes, such as (Smith, 45),
which means the point you are citing is found on p.45 of the article written by Smith.
